That’s easier said than done, but Wen Yifan didn’t give up easily. Even a Level 1 Spirit Spring could restore half her energy with a single sip. If it reached its max level, regaining youth wouldn’t be impossible. The temptation was just too great.
Since it was still early, she rallied her resolve and planned to venture further in to test her luck. But just a few steps in, her stick hit something hard.
She lifted it and saw a piece of thin iron wire, rusted and bent—clearly fallen from a fence. Yet looking around, there didn’t seem to be any fencing nearby.
“Did a shepherd drop this?”
Wen Yifan tensed, eyes scanning ahead. As she hesitated, the electronic screen beeped:
【Deep Mountains, Red Rock Base.】
…
“Hey, Old Qin! Just in time—you’re about to have another drill, and I’m all nervous. Give me some guidance.”
Qin Yunan had just entered the shooting range when his comrade Zhou Hua called him over. He turned, puzzled. “Didn’t you already pass the shooting test?”
“Passing isn’t the same as excelling,” Zhou Hua fretted. “You know the commander will be here for this exercise. If I don’t perform well, believe me, the squad leader will make me wash socks for a year!”
“Isn’t that your specialty?” Qin Yunan teased, picking up a Type 54 pistol on the table and firing a shot effortlessly.
“Damn it!” Zhou Hua cursed, squinting at the target in surprise. “Old Qin, wow, your aim’s improved! Just a few days ago you weren’t this accurate!”
“Not bad,” Qin Yunan replied.
“Hmm? Why act modest?” Zhou Hua scoffed.
Qin Yunan raised an eyebrow. “Do you still want me to teach you?”
“Yes, please!” Zhou Hua immediately bent low in respect. Qin Yunan, uninterested, gave him a kick. “Stop chatting—hurry up, I need to meet the chief of staff later.”
“Again for family stuff?”
Qin Yunan didn’t answer.
His comrades knew all too well about his trivial family issues, so Zhou Hua dropped the topic, loaded his gun, and the two stood side by side. Qin Yunan said, “Start with a 100-meter close-range shot—ready—”
“Fire!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Amid the constant gunfire, Qin Yunan corrected Zhou Hua’s stance. “Feet shoulder-width apart, pull the trigger steadily, don’t rush… How many times have I told you not to repeat this bad habit?”
“Okay, okay! I’ll fix it!”
Wiping sweat from his forehead, Zhou Hua adjusted his stance, calming his impatience, and raised the gun again.
He didn’t see the shadow behind the target. Just as the gunfire and Qin Yunan’s shouted corrections reached Wen Yifan, a bullet zipped straight at her. In the nick of time, she narrowly dodged.
The bullet grazed her arm and embedded itself into the rock behind, sparking slightly and splashing onto her hand. The burn made her shake her hand violently, causing blood to flow faster.
The pheasant she had caught earlier also escaped in the commotion.
“Hiss!”
Wen Yifan finally realized her arm was bleeding badly. Her sleeve had been torn, and blood had soaked the nearby cloth. Without immediate dressing, she could bleed out here and die.
Remembering the iron wire and the gunshots, she guessed she had inadvertently entered a military base. The shooter had to be nearby.
Gritting her teeth, she moved on while shouting, “Is anyone there?! Did anyone just shoot me? If you don’t show yourself, I’ll report to your commander!”
Qin Yunan sprinted over at full speed. Seeing it was a woman, his sharp gaze softened slightly, curiosity piqued. “Why report to our commander?”
“To report that you’re randomly injuring civilians! Make him force you to write a 10,000-character self-criticism!”
Seeing the man suddenly appear before her, Wen Yifan was first distracted by his handsome appearance, then angered: “So handsome, yet such lousy aim!”
“My aim is lousy?” Qin Yunan was taken aback.
“Isn’t it?” Wen Yifan jabbed him with her arm, ranting: “The bullet practically had a GPS—targeting the person instead of the target! Civilians have to dodge you for fear of being hit!”
The target was huge—she couldn’t understand how he missed by so much, especially since she had been three steps away.
Qin Yunan touched his nose, realizing she had mistaken him as the shooter. He decided to clarify: “Comrade, you’ve misunderstood.”
Misunderstood?
Wen Yifan snorted coldly. “Still trying to lie? This range is deserted—just you, me, and—”
Her gaze fell on Zhou Hua, who had run a few steps behind with a gun still in hand. She froze, whispering, “He’s—”
Qin Yunan sighed. “Yes, he’s the one who shot you. You really misunderstood me, comrade.”
Wen Yifan: “……”
Awkward.
On the way back, Wen Yifan quietly clung to the man’s back, her ears flushed red. After building her courage, she said earnestly, “Comrade, I apologize. I overreacted and blamed you wrongly.”
“No worries. It was kind of fun,” Qin Yunan replied.
Wen Yifan didn’t understand. “Fun?”
She worried she had insulted him into being dumbfounded.
Qin Yunan chuckled lightly, not answering. Instead, he asked, “Where’s your home? I can take you there. I’m partly responsible—if I had reacted sooner, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”
Wen Yifan couldn’t blame him. At the time, her mind was entirely on the herbs. She had noticed the wire but pressed forward anyway. She deserved the bullet.
She casually said, “Words are faster than guns.”
Qin Yunan raised an eyebrow. He thought maybe—he had just witnessed someone with a really sharp tongue.
By now, everyone in her family probably knew she was divorcing Song Yanchuan. Letting a man carry her so casually could easily lead to trouble.
Wen Yifan said, “No need to go home. Take me to the place I mentioned earlier. There’s a small clinic—I need to tend to this wound.”
“A clinic in the village?”
Qin Yunan had never been there, but he knew a small village sat at the foot of the mountain. He doubted it could support even a tiny clinic.
When they arrived, he paused.
Before them was a simple courtyard—hardly a clinic in sight—slightly beyond his expectations.
“I’m planning to open a clinic here, make a living. Thank you for bringing me back. Come in?” Wen Yifan opened the door.
Qin Yunan glanced at her wound and nodded. Wen Yifan poured him a cup of water, then took out her medical kit and tended to herself.
She cleaned, dressed, and bandaged the wound with practiced ease, needing no assistance.
Qin Yunan looked on appreciatively. “Studied medicine before?”
“Just a little—not proficient.”
After finishing, Wen Yifan moved the basket he had carried for her inside. Qin Yunan offered to help but realized it was full of herbs.